The present invention relates to a device allowing actuation of the visor of an integral helmet via a mobile part of the face or the tongue.
An integral helmet generally presents an element for protecting the lower part of the face defining an opening capable of being obturated by a manually displaceable visor.
This arrangement obliges the motorcyclist to let go the handlebar of the motorbike with one hand and to recognize, blind, a mark or the edge of this visor in order to raise or lower it.
Known solutions consist in motorized systems on racks or the like, powered by a source and enabling the visor to be displaced. Such systems are actuated by controls comprising either an electrical contact on the helmet itself, which, in the same way, involves putting one""s hand on the helmet, or a remote contact with a wire, or, finally, a contact with the handlebar with a remote control.
However, this latter solution, which is best adapted, requires a system outside the helmet powered by another electric source.
Controls of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,297 also exist, which are activated by the helmet wearer""s breath and which comprise an electric switch of which the first pole is formed by a fixed contactor and the second pole is constituted by a conducting plate borne by the free end of a helical spring.
The plate is mounted behind a network of orifices and perpendicularly to the flow of air blown by the wearer and capable of passing through these orifices.
The pressure resulting from the helmet wearer""s breath is used for displacing the plate which then touches the contactor, closing the electric circuit.
However, with this device, it is not easy to ensure electrical contact between the plate and the contactor for a duration corresponding to the rising or descending stroke of the visor, since this requires blowing for a fairly long period.
In addition, blowing must be precise in order to concentrate on the plate and sufficiently powerful to overcome the resistance of the spring, this also necessitating a considerable physical effort of the helmet wearer. Under these conditions, reliability of this control is very poor.
The system according to the invention makes it possible to solve the above-described technical problems satisfactorily.
This purpose is attained by means of a system for actuating an integral helmet visor, characterized in that it comprises, on the one hand, a motoring system powered by an electric source for moving said visor between an opening position and a closing position, and, on the other hand, an electronic control circuit internal to the helmet and associated with said motoring system and capable of being activated by electrical connection of part of the face or of the tongue with at least one electrode connected to said circuit.
According to a first embodiment, the system comprises at least two high-impedance and low-current electrodes, capable of being short-circuited by direct contact with the tongue.
The system preferably comprises a right-hand electrode, a left-hand electrode and a central electrode connected to the ground of the circuit.
According to another embodiment, the system comprises at least one free electrode connected, on the one hand, to a capacitor of the control circuit and intended to be connected, on the one hand, to a mobile part of the face or to the tongue by direct electrical contact or electrostatic influence by producing a capacitive effect.
The system preferably comprises two free electrodes corresponding respectively to the rise and descent of the visor.
According to an advantageous characteristic, said control circuit is connected to the motoring system via inverter CMOS amplifiers in series and transistors mounted in bridge form.
According to an advantageous characteristic, the electric source is integrated in the material lining of the helmet.
According to another characteristic, said electrode is disposed in the protecting element opposite the mouth.
Thus, control is effected by a mobile part of the face or the tongue. By way of non-limiting example, control is therefore activated by two right and left, high-impedance and low-current electrodes short-circuited for the opening and closure of the visor or two right and left, capacitor effect electrodes for the opening or closing of the visor.
By way of non-limiting example, the electronic circuit may be mounted on the input of inverter CMOS amplifiers in series, saturating, or one of the other of two transistors mounted in bridge form.
The assembly of the batteries forming the electric source is buried in the foam of the helmet.